


The Mighty Runway

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Project Runway Fusion, F/M, Sewing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 16:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: It's the third week into Project Runway and tragedy has struck Jester's sewing machine. Now if only there was a handsome Zemnian competitor who could help her.





	The Mighty Runway

KA-CHUNK! Jester stared at the sewing machine in horror. The needle was completely bent. She broke the sewing machine. Her third week on Project Runway and she broke the sewing machine with less than three hours to finish. Tears welled up in her eyes. There was no possible way she was going to finish now.

She looked around even though she knew that the rest of the sewing machines were all being used by someone else. It looked like Beau was nearly done with her pants, so maybe Jester could move to that sewing machine. “Scoot over,” someone said behind Jester. “Let me take a look at it.”

It was Caleb, the Zemnian designer who only worked in browns. From what Jester tell, he was good, like super good, but he was pretty weird. His designs were complicated and detailed and he focused on hard on his work to the point where it was like he noticed nothing around him. Caleb was silent whenever he was in the work room and rarely interacted with his fellow contestants even outside of the work room. The only one he really spoke to was Nott, but apparently they knew each before the show. 

Jester just stared at him in surprise.

“Move, I can’t fix it if you’re right in front of it,” Caleb said.

Jester stood up and watched as he twisted the hand wheel back and forth gently moving the needle up and out of the fabric. The tip was completely missing from the needle. Caleb snipped the thread. “Check for damage. What happened?” he asked as he unscrewed the needle clamp and pulled out the damaged needle.

“I don’t know. It made a funny noise and then it stopped moving, so I tried to turning the wheel to keep it moving forward and it seemed fine, so I started sewing and then ka-chunk. But, really you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Hmm,” Caleb said. He opened up the accessory compartment at the front of the machine and pulled out the replacement needles. “You shouldn’t have forced it. It’s better to just cut the thread and restart after you check the machine.” Jester stared at the ground feeling like an idiot. “I’ve broken three machines trying to force them to work.”

Jester looked up. “Really?” 

He nodded. “There’s a reason why I got so good at fixing these.”

“Oh, but you don’t need to help me. You have your own sewing to finish,” Jester said. “I can take care of this.” She had never repaired a machine before, but she was willing to try.

“I wouldn’t have been able to focus with how upset you looked. This will make my work go faster,” Caleb said.

Jester blushed. “Thank you then.”

He opened the bobbin’s hatch. A snarl of tangled thread sat on top of the hatch. He sniffed at it. “And they say the new machines are so much better. My husqvarna would never tangle like this and it’s older than I am.”

Jester didn’t really know what he was talking about, but she nodded anyways. Being one of the youngest competitors this season, she didn’t want to seem completely inexperienced. She examined where the machine gave up sewing her dress and groaned. There was a hole and a pucker on the garment. Both were irreparable.

“Done,” Caleb said. He saw where Jester was staring. “You got enough fabric to replace it?” Jester shook her head. Even if she did, she didn’t have the time to cut it all out. “Can you cover it?” She frowned at this. There wasn’t enough of anything that would actually look good. Caleb examined the dress closer. “You didn’t sew too much of it. Ripping the stitches shouldn’t leave any marks and if you move your seams by an eighth of an inch you won’t be able to see the hole.”

There was no way Jester had time to do that. She still had her jacket to finish on top of the dress. But she put on her brightest cheeriest smile. “Thanks, I’ll get on it.”

Caleb looked at her for a moment not saying anything. “Test the machine on a scrap piece of fabric. I’ll do the seam ripping and the repinning.”

“You’ve already done too much for me,” Jester said.

“Like I said, I can’t work with you upset. I might as well be productive.” Without another word he grabbed the seam ripper and got to work. 

Jester stared at him not believing what was happening or that Caleb could be so kind. He looked up from seam ripping. “It should be working now. You shouldn’t have to worry about it breaking again.”

“Oh, right,” Jester said turning her sewing machine back on. Though if her machine breaking meant that the cute Zemnian would help her again, she wasn’t sure that she would complain too much.


End file.
